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Gastroenterologists will gather later this month to discuss the latest developments in gastrointestinal care and transitioning paediatric patients to adult services
The Irish Society of Gastroenterology Winter Meeting will take place in Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, Killiney, Co Dublin, on 21-22 November 2024. The meeting is one of the highlights in the ISG’s calendar and will feature a combination of national and international speakers, who are all experts in their field. Their presentations will cover a wide range of areas relating to the specialty, and conditions ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to liver disease.
Opening
The meeting will begin on Thursday 21 November with talks under the title ‘Gut feelings: The importance of being earnest in ulcerative colitis (UC)’. Two speakers will present on the subject: Dr Alissa Walsh, Consultant Gastroenterologist, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK; and Dr Ian Arnott, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Western General Hospital, Lothian, Scotland.
Dr Walsh has extensive international experience in clinical gastroenterology and endoscopy, including diagnostic and therapeutic gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Dr Walsh has a sub-specialty interest in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes UC.
She is renowned for being a leader in her field. Her clinical and research interests focus on patient-reported outcomes, remote monitoring for chronic disease, disease activity indices, and faecal transplantation.
Dr Arnott manages a wide range of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, with particular expertise in IBD, GI bleeding, diarrhoeal conditions, and upper GI cancer. He has a strong interest in endoscopic techniques, including colonoscopy and video capsule endoscopy. His research and teaching focus on the causes and treatments of GI inflammation.
Following two sessions of oral presentations, Prof Derek Power, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Cork University Hospital, will take the podium. The title of Prof Power’s talk is ‘Gastrointestinal toxicity from checkpoint inhibition – The scope of the problem’.
Prof Derek Power
Prof Power’s interests include melanoma, GI and genitourinary cancers, as well as familial cancer genetics.
The next speaker is Dr Fraser Cummings, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Clinical Lead IBD, Southampton General Hospital, UK. Dr Cummings will speak about the “real-world experience” of using filgotinib in the treatment of UC.
Dr Cummings has a particular subspecialist interest in IBD. His research in this field continues to thrive, and he serves as a local principal investigator for a range of clinical and basic science studies, maintaining robust collaborations at local, regional, and national levels.
He is also the clinical lead for the National IBD Registry and a member of the IBD standards group.
Following Dr Cummings’ presentation, lunch will be served. The afternoon session will feature additional oral presentations and talks by the 2023 Bursary Award winners.
The final session of the first day will begin with a talk entitled ‘Polyp management (including ESD) – Horses for courses: Which technique for which polyp?’.
It will be delivered by Prof Brian Saunders, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Specialist Endoscopist, St Mark’s Hospital and Imperial College, London, UK.
Prof Saunders’ main clinical interests are the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of intestinal diseases through flexible endoscopy. He has performed more than 25,000 colonoscopies and has a particular interest in therapeutic colonoscopy, especially advanced polypectomy, endoscopic mucosal resection, and endoscopic submucosal dissection. Much of his work also involves colonoscopic screening and surveillance of those patients at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer.
Prof Saunders was appointed to the consultant staff at St Mark’s Hospital in 1997 and became Chief of Endoscopy in 2003. In the same year, he led St Mark’s successful bid to become a national endoscopy training centre and he chaired a national workgroup looking at quality assurance and performance assessment for screening colonoscopy.
The title of the next discussion is ‘Flare, infection or both: Management of IBD and Clostridioides Difficile at a crossroads’ and will feature two speakers.
Prof Johan Burisch, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, will be the first speaker.
Prof Burisch’s research focuses on IBD and its epidemiology. He works with both population-based cohorts of patients as well as with the Danish national patient registries. Furthermore, he is working on e-health solutions for self-monitoring in gastroenterological diseases, including IBD and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Dr Tee Keat Teoh, Consultant Microbiologist, St James’s Hospital and Director of Public Health Cherry Orchard Hospital, Dublin, will also speak on the topic.
Following this, an awards ceremony will bring the first day of the meeting to a close.
A fun run will take place after the meeting and later that evening a conference dinner will be held. At the dinner, a lifetime achievement award will be presented to Prof John Hegarty, Consultant Gastroenterologist.
Second day
The final day of the meeting will begin with a talk by Prof Jan Tack, Consultant Gastroenterologist, University Hospital Leuven, Belgium. The title of Prof Tack’s talk is ‘Modern diagnosis and management of functional dyspepsia’. Prof Tack’s research lies in the field of neurogastroenterology and motility, and includes diverse topics such as the pathophysiology and management of GI functional and motor disorders.
Dr Emer Fitzpatrick
The next presentation is entitled ‘Challenging our management of IBS using principles derived from onco-gastroenterology’. It will be delivered by Prof Jervoise Andreyev, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Lincoln County Hospital, UK. Prof Andreyev’s research focuses on GI toxicity from cancer treatments and functional bowel disorders, with a particular interest in improving quality-of-life for patients undergoing oncological therapies.
The final talk of the first session will be given by Prof Michael Heneghan, Consultant Hepatologist, King’s College Hospital, London, UK. The title of Prof Heneghan’s talk ‘Liver disease, pregnancy and infertility’. Prof Heneghan qualified in medicine at University College Dublin, completing a residency in internal medicine at University Hospital Galway and training in gastroenterology and hepatology between 1995 and 2001 in Ireland, London, and the US. He has a specialist interest in liver transplantation and autoimmune liver disease.
Transitions of care
The afternoon session will focus on the transition of patients from the paediatric to adult services in Ireland.
Dr Órla Walsh, Consultant in General Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Temple Street, Dublin, will begin with a talk on ‘The approach to the adolescent: How to do a HEEADSSS assessment’.
Next, Dr Cara Dunne, Consultant Gastroenterologist, and Dr Jayne Doherty, Aspire Fellow in Intestinal Failure and Complex Nutrition, who are both based at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, will present ‘From X to Alpha: Mind the generation gap’.
Dr Emer Fitzpatrick, Consultant Paediatric Hepatologist at CHI at Crumlin, Dublin, will follow with a discussion on ‘Growing up with liver disease’. The session will conclude with Dr Deepak Joshi, Consultant Hepatologist at King’s College Hospital, London, UK, who will present ‘Developing a transition pathway for gastroenterology and hepatology: The UK experience’.
After Dr Joshi’s talk, a panel discussion will take place. The meeting will then be brought to a close.
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